Pilgrimage Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

May St Anthony guide you in 2026

3rd January 20263rd January 2026 funtime65

It’s never too early in the new year to be looking for inspiration so may St Anthony guide you in 2026.

And your travels as St Anthony is the Church’s torchbearer for travellers.

Now if the Christmas season is about Baby Jesus and the main saint is Nicklaus.

Then Saint Anthony is not far behind him.

Because as well as being the patron saint of peregrinators St Anthony is also the go-to man for lost causes.

And Christmas is definitely one of those occasions, as well as when you’re portable on holiday, when things go missing.

Under a pile of Christmas wrapping and bundles of new gifts.

Which is what happened to Herself when we repaired to go out for a tipple at the local North Berwick hostelry.

Only to realise that her keys were nowhere to be found.

Answer to our prayers

Of course, misplacing our valuables comes when we’re distracted.

And we are thinking about too much at the same time.

And I’m a master of both and have a mountain of possessions long since fenced by those little Borrowers blighters.

Now after Herself hunting high and low and sending me out of the house and the way.

I suggested we ask St Anthony as a last resort.

For a token fee, of course, in his collection box at the chapel.

Now disbelievers will scoff but the evidence is there and moments later She called to inform me.

That she had found them among the wrapping and tinnies in the bin.

With some story about the dog lead knocking them in there.

Man of charity

All of which mishaps among the merriment brings us to the hero of the moment.

No, not me, but St Anthony, and where we can find him to bank our favours for the future.

Well, for those who follow such things, St Anthony is often referred to as St Anthony of Padua.

Lisbon native Fernando Martins de Bulhões, having been as is so often the case, born from a privileged status.

But going on to dedicate himself to charity in the 13th century.

And preaching, and here is where this peregrinator, came face to face with the great man.

Or the closest thing to that with a reliquary of the Portugueezer in his adopted town of Padua in north-east Italy.

Now Anthony, his given monastic name, found himself in Italy after his ship was blown off course.

On his way back from Morocco, where he had fallen ill (been there, done that).

The trip of the tongue

And it was in Bologna where the legend of Anthony intervening when you lose something was spawned.

When Anthony lost his psalter and prayed to God that it would be found or returned.

And the thief was moved to not only return the book to Anthony.

With the stolen book now said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna.

While St Anthony’s tongue and jaw bone which miraculously survived, while the rest of him turned to dust, is the sight of veneration.

In the St Anthony Basilica in Padua where pilgrims gather to pay homage.

And ask where they’ve left their keys, wallet, mobile phone or whatever is dear to you.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Buon Cammino Pellegrino

29th December 202529th December 2025 funtime65

Buon Cammino Pellegrino and a shout-out to a Via Francigena friend I never knew I had but do now.

Philosopher Marcos Bulcao is a Brazilian brother pilgrim who has also walked the historic route from England into Rome.

Only while your favourite Bandanaman has traversed 100kms (in truth 120 with all the diversions) Marcos has covered 2,000.

And written about it for his new book The Philosopher Pilgrim which he has now flagged up to me through the community.

Follow the Yellowsign Road

Now Marcos, like most of us, took his first step on the Yellowsign road which is the Camino Frances.

And again did the whole thing from France while this peregrinos did the last 100km.

Before hearing about the 1,000-year-old Via Francigena.

Back in the days when small roads led to Rome.

Marathon man Marcos, of course, was never going to take any short cuts.

And so set out on his odyssey to Rome from the pilgrim city of Canterbury on England’s south coast.

Now, of course, every pilgrim’s journey is their own.

And I could have done with Marcos’s company on my stretch of the Lazio region.

Where for the most part I only had the birds for company, probably because I got myself lost in groves and forests.

No spoilers

Now I’ve regaled you with my own misadventures and how I nearly didn’t get started at all.

After getting stranded in Viterbo.

But if you want to hear about Marcos’s journey then you’re going to have to read his The Philosopher Pilgrim.

You may very well find a Marcos for yourself on your travels.

Because Brazilians are all over European pilgrimages.

And they are the friendliest of peregrinos.

Brazilian l’amore

As I discovered when Maria introduced me to her mother and father in the pews at the Cathedral of St James, my namesake, in Santiago.

After they had surprised her by turning up in Galicia when she ended her Camino.

And got a surprise they hadn’t been expecting when she introduced them to the man she had fallen for on the road.

Now to see if anything similar befell Marcos and for other tales of love, companionship and faith then I’ll be checking out The Philosopher Pilgrim.

Asia, Countries, Pilgrimage

Away to the manger… Bethlehem is back

24th December 202524th December 2025 funtime65

Whether it ranks as a miracle is for others to decide but this year after a two-year hiatius it’s away to the manger… Bethlehem is back.

Which is good news for the Little Town (population 32,000) which depends for 85% of its economy on tourism.

And unemployment is three in five, up from one in ten.

And which this year is restating their tree-lighting ceremony.

When a 50ft Christmas tree dominates Manger Square.

And vies in height with the basilica built over the grotto where Jesus was born.

And what of inns, we hear you ask.

Under the tree

Well, in a usual year, we’re told that you’d have to book inns well in advance to avoid getting stuck with a stable.

While, of course, the local economy depends on the throngs of pilgrims snapping up religigous souvenirs.

And guides to tell us presumably where the shepherds watched their flocks at night and taxi drivers to take us there.

This year hotel bookings are up from virtually zero to 7,000 on December 8, the day of the tree-lighting ceremony.

Now the place to mark the First Christmas we’re told is the Church of St Catherine.

Midnight Mass with the Cardinal

Where none other than the late Pope Francis’s old friend, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, touted as his successor, holds Midnight Mass tonight, Christmas Eve,

For the record the British Foreign Commonwealth and Developments Office advises.

Against all but essential travel to Bethlehem.

While the Irish government too urges that only essential travel should be taken.

All our Christmases ahead

All across the world: Baby Jesus in Tobago

So where does that leave us?

Well, probably praying that things return to normal next year, firstly for everyone in the West Bank.

But also so that we can fulfil our life’s pilgrimage.

And add Israel to the missions we’ve taken to Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostella and to the banks of the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised.

And a Happy Birthday to Bethlehem’s most famous native.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Pilgrimage

No man gets left behind on a Tenerife trek

7th November 20257th November 2025 funtime65

My old colleague, The Other Jim, is, of course, well-travelled and his boots well-trodden but even he wilted under the Canarian sun… then again no man gets left behind on a Tenerife trek.

You may well have seen the esteemed James Gallagher, with whom I shared a parish for years in Ireland, striding along a lane near you.

Particularly if that lane is the Wild Atlantic Way.

On this occasion we were pioneers on a recce for a new CaminoWays trek in Tenerife, CanariaWays.

Only our guides had overestimated our Irish pastiness.

Or our need for more than the usual water, chocolate and protein bar supply on those open hills.

All of which meant that we had to come back down the hill from the Franco memorial bar (now, that’s another story).

To retrieve Big Jim because no man gets left behind on a Tenerife walking trek.

Walk like an Irishman

I found that too in a different terrain and a different walking group, the most resilient trekkers you can meet, the senior citizens’ walkers.

On a hike through the Austrian Tyrol with Travel Department.

Now, of course, have boots, will travel, is the TD motto and they will guide you through the multi-faceted, multi-climate zone, idyll that is Tenerife.

You’ll be based in the town of Puerto de la Cruz and enjoy the volcanic black beaches of Playa Jardín.

Mojo rojo: In Tenerife with Matthew Hirtes

Your guide will lead you on trails through Teide National Park, offering stunning views of Mount Teide.

You’ll explore the lush laurel forests and rugged cliffs of Teno Rural Park.

And trek the historic Las Vueltas Footpath in Anaga Rural Park.

The volcanic landscapes of Montana Samara.

And visit the ancient caves of the indigenous inhabitants within Corona Forestal Nature Park.

A walk for all

You’ll travel on February 5 with prices from €1,719pp.

The seven-night trip will offer moderate routes on each walking day.

And is ideal for moderately experienced or experienced walkers, and Our Jim.

The average daily walking distance on moderate walks is between 7.6km-12.85km.

With ascents between of between 369-730m.

And a maximum daily walking duration of up to four and a half hours.

A Teide packet

TD offers €100pp off tours departing before April 1 use code WALKING100.

Explore magnificent natural scenery & impressive hiking trails on this walking holiday in Tenerife.

There will be five guided walking trips through diverse terrains & national parks.

Experience highlights like Mount Teide, Anaga Rural Park & Montana Samara.

Unwind after hikes on the volcanic black sand beaches of Playa Jardín.

Your seven nights will be spent in a three-star half board hotel with flights and transfers from Dublin.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Following the yellow arrow road ten years on

27th October 202527th October 2025 funtime65

You spend a week on 100kms on The Way then find yourself following the yellow arrow road ten years on.

Actor and trekker Robson Green is the latest to put his boots on and head for Santiago de Compostella.

For his World’s Most Amazing Walks series for British TV channel U&Yesterday.

And share his Camino, which, of course, is his own.

There were touch points we recognise from our CaminoWays odyssey.

The passport, the pulpo, or octopus, and the cathedral botafumeiro incense holder.

As he traversed his way across Galicia from O Cebreiro to St James the Greater’s remains in Santiago de Compostella.

But because every day is an education on the Camino we learned some stuff we’d missed back then.

And they were all yellow

Such as the derivation of the yellow arrow symbol.

We already know why peregrinos, or pilgrims. wear scallop shells on their backpacks.

Although we prefer the more lyrical explanation, which he didn’t share, which is that James was carried ashore on clamshells.

But we just imagined that the yellow arrows which guide even the most accidental of tourists, to their destination.

That it was a Galician or Spanish Tourist Board signpost.

Starting out from O Cebreiro, of course, Robson, immediately learned that it was the handiwork of its most famous citizen.

Father Elias Valina, who stocked with an inordinate amount of yellow paint took off on his travels in 1984.

Along the French Way daubing yellow arrows everywhere to help peregrinos.

And you’ll be thankful to the padre for keeping you on the straight and narrow.

The big cheese

Armed with this knowledge Robson drops by, among other high points, a Queso Tetilla cheese in the shape of a booby.

The reason for it, the great storyteller keeps until the end of his trek in the great cathedral itself.

Which, Robson would be aghast if we spoiled.

Walking in his footsteps

Does my ass look big? We’re all peregrinos

The Geordie starts out his eight-part series in his backyard of the north-east of England.

Walking across to the other coast along the 2,000-year-old Hadrian’s Wall.

Before taking in the Danube River, along the Wachau Valley in Austria.

The north coast of Normandy, to the D-Day landings beaches.

The Great Glen Way through the Scottish Highlands, from the foot of Ben Nevis to Loch Ness.

Where eagles draw: The Trail of the Eagle’s Nest in Austria

The Douro Valley in Portugal, the Jurassic Coast on England’s south coast, complete with Sea-Rex.

And after his Camino odyssey, the Trail of the Eagle’s Nest in Poland.

A 100-mile route connecting a group of medieval castles perched across the limestone highlands.

Of course, through the miracle of modern technology I started my journey at episode seven and the Camino.

And one of our own

I am, of course, binge watching the rest and will break it to The Scary One that that is our mission for our Sixties.

To complete all of Robson’s treks, and more, not least our own neighbourhood walk, the John Muir Way.

And surprise my old walking companion, Wendy the Wasp Whisperer on the tenth anniversary of our misadventures this month.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

God is a biker

23rd September 2025 funtime65

How do you know God is a biker, well, The Lord was with Joshua and his Triumph was heard throughout the land.

An old fave which has no doubt been doing the rounds, at the Blessings of the Helmets at the Marian pilgrimage in Fatima.

Now in its tenth year, some 180,000 bikers descended on the Northern Portuguese city.

To have their helmets blessed.

And to raise money and awareness for the 9,900 bikers in accidents in the country and victims of the country’s forest fires.

Pilgrims make their way to Fatima by planes, trains and automobiles, and we’d recommend Jose Madomis’s guided tour.

Which we would have seen for ourselves if only we had visited a couple of weeks later.

Our calling

It was less God’s calling, we think, rather than just space in the work calendar, which meant we visited one early September.

And met the niece of one of the Three Little Shepherds.

On her own porch and joined in the Lord’s Prayer.

This little light of mine

Now if the Lord moves in mysterious ways then pilgrims to Fatima do as well.

All with the same aim to make their own way to the main altar.

Which is what one senior citizen, and we dare say not the only one.

On her hands and her knees in supplication to Our Lady and Our Lord.

And to get the best slot for the Night-time Candle Procession.

Only the blessings are shared equally around.

Whether a Little Shepherd, a Little Biker or a Little Old Woman.

Pilgrims arrive in Fatima, as we say, by all modes of transport but we flew in with Ryanair to Lisbon.

And why not check out Portugal Centro too which Jose, our Special One, has been specially endowed with God’s favours and blessings.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

See the Heavens above the Vatican

4th August 20254th August 2025 funtime65

And a tip from the Land of the USSea, where to go to see the Heavens above the Vatican.

The Papacy has walked a fine line through history.

Between the often irresolvable powerhouses of religion and science.

With the great astronomer Galileo Galilei the highest profile victim of the Medieval church’s intransigence.

Of course, the Pope and his people have long been looking upwards for answers.

After all that’s where the Big Boss lives and works.

Observe the observatory

Galileo magnifico: The famous astronomer

Few of us are aware though that the Papacy actually has a dedicated observatory.

In the Pope’s summer house, south of Rome, once the residence of the Emperor Domitian.

But fave cuz in Washington DC does and the New Yorker does and now we does.

And as with many of the advances in the modern-day Papacy we owe our access to the big telescopes to the late, great Pope Francis.

Who opted to forego the summer residence enjoyed by previous pontiffs and instead turned it into a museum.

And so next time you visit La Citta Eterna and you have time, and you won’t, but you should make it.

Then visit the 17th-century palazzo in Castel Gandolfo, about fifteen miles south of Rome, all booked on your Vatican Museums site.

Which overlooks a volcanic lake and is surrounded by terraced gardens.

And where you will be given a 60-minute tour in two floors of the observatory building.

Plus visits to the domes of the historic Carte du Ciel telescope and the Schmidt Telescope, the site of St. Pope Paul VI’s address to the Apollo astronauts on the Moon in 1969.

Hands across the ocean

Castel Gandolfo is also home to Vatican Observatory founded in 1891.

Where Chicagoan Fr Bob, or Da Pope as we now know him. has the benefit of another MidWestern homeboy.

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, the Detroit-born director of the observatory who heads a group of 15 fellow friars.

Outta Arizona, a state that offers a remote mountain environment sans the light-polluted suburbs of Rome.

The Mt. Graham International Observatory, near Tucson.

Where the Vatican installed a $4m telescope and an astrophysics facility.

Together known as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, or vatt.

And vatt’s not all folks, Brother Guy’s explorations have spread to another continent still, Antarctica.

In his meteor research.

While Castel Gandoldo also boasts one of the world’s greatest curations, bequeathed by French nobleman, the Marquis de Mauroy.

And looks even beyond the Earth and the Heavens.

Uncovering a rare meteorite, known as Chassigny, whose chemical composition suggests it hails from Mars.

The Pope’s Astronomer

Now the Pope’s Astronomer clearly has a brain the size of a planet and he fills it with deuteronomy and, er, science fiction.

All of which only encourages people to ask him for evidence of the Star over Bethlehem… and believers will point to stellar movements of the day.

Brother Guy, of course, sees them all coming, and his answers can, er, be Jesuitical.

With a memorable conclusion: “Even scientists who don’t believe in God have to believe in ‘Oh, my God.’ ”

Now we can’t promise you’ll meet Brother Guy when you wash up at Castel Gandoldo.

But you will see the Heavens above the Vatican… in imagination, faith and science.

Countries, Ireland, Pilgrimage, UK

Bruce, the Scottish and Irish Lions and a united Celtland

18th July 2025 funtime65

And for the weekend that’s in it an opportunity to mark Bruce, the Scottish and Irish Lions and a united Celtland.

Because what we don’t get taught in school is that Scotland and Ireland were indeed united for what must have been three glorious years.

Under the banner of Edward Bruce from 1315-1318.

And you might be familiar with his brother Robert, the King of the Scots, aka Chris Pine,

An alternative future

Edward Bruce’s reign may have been short lived but it offered a tantalising look into an alternative future.

For these Celtic peoples and indeed the Norman Anglo-Irish and their descendants.

Of course, for these weeks in this the year of the Lord 2015.

On sporting fields a thousand miles away in a different colony, Australis, we are all one team.

A British and Irish Lions rugby union select.

And woe betide anyone who abbreviates that to British Lions.

Or worse as in the case of passport pilferer Tony Cascarino who miscalled the elite combo England despite representing Ireland.

My noble bloodline

Now thanks to the excellent Sky History Channel and your favourite blogger’s obsessive interest in the past.

We can relive the days After Braveheart when Scotland and Ireland mastered perfidious Albion.

While the might of the English (and entrapped Welsh) armies and the British Empire colonised Ireland for 700 years.

The Irish and the Scots have managed to stay close through bloodlines.

With this descendant of Irish and Scots stock.

As a Murty, a direct descendant of the High King Muirchertach of Brian Boru’s blood.

And I’m not making this up!

And say an Ave there for me

And so if Edward Bruce’s name was not writ large in English-told history it does not mean we cannot honour him here.

Or point historians, patriots or those who just like a good story to his plot.

At Faughart Cemetery, near Dundalk in County Louth.

Near the modern lines of a border between the North and South of the island of Ireland.

We’re sure his spirit will welcome any of a Scots and Irish set who pays a pilgrimage and says a prayer.

And celebrates Bruce, the Scottish and Irish Lions and a united Celtland.

America, Countries, Pilgrimage

Sweet Rome Chicago

9th May 20259th May 2025 funtime65

And as £1.4 billion Catholic eyes turn their gaze to the Windy City why all roads have led from sweet Rome Chicago.

Because Cardinal Robert Prevost, or Pope Leo XIV as we now know him, hails from what could now be tagged the Holy City too.

That Chicago of all the cities in the world should be chosen to produce the 267th Pontiff is, of course, God’s calling.

But he has long cast his blessings on the great city of the Mid West since its first French Catholic settlement in the 1690s.

And our new Papa has French blood running through him and Italian and Spanish.

The Holy Ground

We recommend the locally-released documentary Holy Ground for those who want to delve deeper into Chicago Catholicism.

And we are grateful too to Chicago Catholic for helping us see the light.

Better still find yourself in Chicago as we will, God willing, next month.

Bless you all: Chicago’s most famous son, Robert Prevost

And will now seek out the Queen of All Saints church in Sauganash.

Where the worshippers have dedicated a stained-glass window to favourite son, Billy Caldwell, the very same Chief Sauganash.

That he has had the thriving southern neighbourhood of Sauganash named for him is testament to his contribution.

Hail to the Chief Sauganash

Two tribes: Billy Caldwell/Chief Sauganash

The son of a Scots-Irishman (all the best people are) and a Mohawk or Shawnee woman Caldwell championed the indigenous tribes.

The Potawatomi people who would populate the Chicago area.

Chicago Catholic marks the year 1833 as pivotal in the church’s story.

When Robert Prevost would have been but a twinkle in his great-grandfather’s eye.

The annus mirabilis 1833 marks the incorporation of Chicago as a town and the creation of its first parish, Old St. Mary’s.

The explosion of Catholic Chicago when because of its positioning in the Mid West it became a transport hub.

And a destination of choice for immigrants from the Old World.

With more parishes built to serve immigrant communities and outlying or daughter parishes.

Sky’s the limit

Chicago has long prided itself as the home of the skyscraper.

And like every other visitor we stand out among the locals for looking up.

But look between the soaring temples to consumerism, hospitality and business.

And you will see another history of Chicago, its ornate steeples.

And perhaps too, St Mary of the Assumption Parish on 137th Street in Riverside in South Chicago.

It may be a shell now of what it was but a stained glass window remains which a young Robert Prevost would have lost himself in.

The boy who would become Pope Leo XIV, the first Pontiff from the USA, now has a rather grander Vatican church from which to worship.

But all roads have led from sweet Rome Chicago

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Pure selfiesness of Insta Papal pics

25th April 202525th April 2025 funtime65

They look unthreatening but we wouldn’t advise challenging the Swiss Guards tackling the pure selfiesness of Insta Papal pics.

It would, of course, be too much to expect that people would respect Francis’s dignity.

By desisting from stealing a selfie with the Pope as he lies in state in St Peter’s Basilica.

And I can’t imagine my mum’s cousins, monks and nuns.

All in the same family, copying the sisters with mobiles at the Pope’s casket.

Processing the processions

Whatever the rights and wrongs of processions to visit a dignitary as they lie in state.

And we would argue that it elicits a gawkishness or overdeference among those who stand for hours to worship at a mortal’s feet.

Whether that be a queen, a president or a pope.

It must be wrong that the great modern icon of Insta-gratification has come to overrule normal rules and conventions.

And we won’t even get started at those who smile inanely at the gates of Auschwitz and other Holocaust or dark tourist sites.

World turns off its phones

Stick to this: The Beefeaters at the Tower of London

Back in the Vatican the Swiss Guards and Polizie have for now not brought the full force of the law down on the miscreants.

But the tide is turning around the world against the Insta-social behaviour which is ruining our visitors experiences.

At the moment the ban on selfies has been restricted to matters of safety and security.

And so visitors are forbidden from taking selfies, photos or videos in the Jewel House of the Tower of London where the Crown Jewels are kept.

The big beasts

No bull: Selfies are banned at the Running of the Bulls

Elsewhere it’s animals’ safety that is the consideration.

Theirs and ours with pics with the big cats ruled out in the zoos and circuses of New York.

And photos with bears are a no-no in Lake Tahoe in California.

Although the authorities would probably be best just letting the grizzlies enforce the law for them.

With some humans instinctively averse to boundaries the rules have to be laid down for them.

And so, and think about, the authorities have had to legislate against selfies at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.

Respect for religion

Now while that adrenaline rush is an athletic pilgrimage our spiritual odysseys also need protecting.

And the Islamic world does it best with the ban on selfies on the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Pilgrims only have a short time left in the snaking queue before the casket is closed tonight on the Pope.

Before his funeral tomorrow and Francis gets some peace from the throngs.

And the pure selfiesness of Insta Papal pics.